Qantas Airlines To Offer In-Flight Books

And our last word in business on this Wednesday is: Mile High Book Club.

LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

We're talking about an in-flight library offered by the Australian airline Qantas.

GREENE: They will still have movies on the plane, that right, Linda?

WERTHEIMER: Yes, David. But Qantas is telling passengers who want to read that they can ditch their Kindles and settle in with a paperback.

(SOUNDBITE OF AD)

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: The one place we humans still enjoy turning a page is at 30,000 feet.

GREENE: And if you hate when your plane lands in the middle of a movie, well, the airline has a solution for books.

WERTHEIMER: They're customizing works by Australian authors to fit the length of your flight.

GREENE: OK, so that means a short story for a short hop, or an epic if you're flying, say, from Sydney to California.

WERTHEIMER: The book should end...as you're landing.

GREENE: Sort of like a radio segment, ending just as you're arriving at work. Let's see if we have the timing right here. You're pulling into that parking space, getting ready to grab your coffee and walk out of the car just as we say: this was the business news on MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm David Greene.